If you’re trying to start new recruiting habits this year, you’re sure to encounter resistance from your old routine, negative thoughts, distractions, and every other force in the universe plotting against you establishing these new habits. To overcome this resistance, author James Clear recommends tricking yourself into getting started on a new habit. The principle is that any activity can be distilled into a habit that is partially doable within two minutes. Want to read more? Don’t commit to reading one book every week – instead, make a habit of reading two pages per night. The two-minute rule is a way to build easily achievable habits, and those can lead you on to greater things. Once you’ve read two pages, you’ll likely continue. The rule recognizes that simply getting started is the first and most important step toward doing something. Many recruiting activities can be easily broken down into 2-minute tasks. For example, you may want to start a recruiting time block by sending just one email to an agent or network contact asking for a referral. That’s easy, right? Overcoming the initial start-up inertia makes it more likely you’ll keep going and tackle the more difficult tasks like making an uncomfortable call to a prospect or crafting a detailed follow-up message to someone in your pipeline. Recruiting success happens when you complete a high number of focused, proactive tasks. But those tasks will never get done unless you get started.